Review article
POLITICO-CULTURAL PRECONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY
Pero Maldini
orcid.org/0000-0001-8036-619X
; University of Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Abstract
The problems of democratic legitimation and the ineffectiveness
of the democratic system characterize the postsocialist societies despite their normative-institutional democratic constitution. The socioeconomic conditions affect democratization, but it seems that the sociocultural factors (especially the patterns of dominant political cultures) are the key determinants for the survival and development of the democratic political system. Transitional societies are marked by developmental discontinuity. Normative-institutional and culturological changes possess different dynamics and do not occur concurrently.
This discrepancy brings into question the legitimacy and success
of democratic consolidation. Such an interactive relationship
between the political culture and the political system (structure)
makes up the framework for the study of major political-cultural preconditions for democratization. The paper deals with the sociocultural features of transition, the nature of cultural changes (value changes and institutional learning), political trust, legitimacy, the features of civic political culture, the attitude towards power and authority, political participation, the role of political elites, the sociocultural aspect of economic development, and the interest in politics.
It is possible to overcome the distinctive discrepancy between
culture and structure primarily by means of the transformation of sociocultural preconditions i.e. as democratic resocialization (through
the processes of value change and institutional learning). It turns out
that democratic consolidation is essentially defined by this sociocultural transformation. Sociocultural conditions i.e. political-cultural preconditions, are the key predictors of the success of the democratizational process. Apart from the implemented values of democracy and the citizens’ acceptance of these values, democracy also requires active citizenry, hence the expansion of citizens’ participation is seen as the main goal of that transformation.
Keywords
political culture; political structure; democratization; transition; legitimacy; political trust; participation
Hrčak ID:
20440
URI
Publication date:
2.2.2007.
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